JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Chesson Hadley performed bogey-free Thursday within the Sanderson Farms Championship and posted an 8-under 64 for a one-shot lead in his newest bid to safe his PGA Tour card.
That is the third straight yr Hadley has been on the bubble to complete among the many high 125 within the FedEx Cup. No less than now he has time on his facet, and religion in swing that he tweaked initially of the yr.
He had two stretches of three straight birdies on a day of ever-shifting climate on the Nation Membership of Jackson to maneuver previous Henrik Norlander, who had a 65 within the morning, and Brandon Wu, who made an 18-foot birdie putt on his closing gap within the afternoon for a 65.
Ludvig Aberg, the 23-year-old Swede who made his Ryder Cup debut final week at Marco Simone, had a 67 that left him somewhat annoyed. He missed three birdie putts from 7 toes or nearer on the again 9.
Aberg was the No. 1 within the PGA Tour College rating, and thus is assured his PGA Tour card for 2024. Hadley is not so lucky.
The FedEx Cup Fall is for gamers to safe their positions inside the highest 125 on the finish of the yr. Hadley is at No. 122, with little room for error. He mentioned he wasn’t in panic mode like he has been in earlier yr, primarily as a result of he has greater than a month left within the yr.
“I have been feeling good. I really feel harmful. I am feeling harmful proper now,” Hadley mentioned. “I really feel like among the laborious work and among the shot-shape change that I’ve executed has paid off, and my recreation feels good. Simply have to preserve it going. The gasoline is on the fitting.”
Hadley needed to tie for eighth within the closing regular-season occasion to safe his card final yr. In 2022, he tied for fifteenth within the closing occasion to get into the FedEx Cup playoffs.
So this sort of stress is nothing new.
“It is nice,” Hadley mentioned with a small measure of sarcasm. “I am not as panicky as I’ve been the final couple of years. We have loads of golf left. I really feel good. I am excited about it lower than I’ve in years previous.”
Norlander, who’s No. 142 within the FedEx Cup, has a bit extra urgency. He confirmed that on the again 9 when he two-putted for eagle at No. 11, holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the following gap, adopted with an 8-foot birdie after which holed a 100-foot chip for eagle on the par-5 14th.
The massive group at 66 included Russell Knox, who must good fall to maintain his card. One other shot behind was Kevin Kisner, who took the final two months of the common season off due to a deep droop.
Aberg is among the many star points of interest at Sanderson Farms, primarily due to his fast begin since leaving Texas Tech after his senior season. He did nicely sufficient to get the eye of Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, after which received the European Masters in Switzerland that assured him getting one of many captain’s picks.
He teamed with Viktor Hovland for a Ryder Cup file 9-and-7 victory over Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, and he spent Sunday evening celebrating a European victory.
Three of his teammates made the brief flight to Scotland for a European tour occasion. Aberg went to Mississippi to enhance his FedEx Cup standing. Whereas his card is assured, Aberg would like to get into The Gamers Championship and among the $20 million occasions subsequent yr.
“Going into the day, I used to be a bit drained, not going to lie,” Aberg mentioned. “However I knew what I used to be able to doing, and it was fairly cool to see that exhibiting up. Felt like I hit the ball stable immediately. Sort of a bizarre day on the greens, to be trustworthy. I made a number of longer ones however then I additionally missed a number of shorter ones. It is simply one in every of them days.”
Additionally at 67 was Sam Ryder with a wild scorecard. Ryder had just one par on the again 9, 10 birdies for the day together with two bogeys and a double bogey.
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